Lazy Days of Summer

We've finally reached the lazy days of summer, at least most of us have in our gardens. That doesn't mean there isn't always work to be done - weeds never take the summer off - but hopefully we've planted most of we're adding for the spring and summer season. Time now to enjoy the fruits of our labors. One of the 'stopping for a moment' joys for me is photographing the garden. As I have a 'one-of-everything' garden, there's always something in bloom or providing interesting foliage. Here then are a few 'snapshots' of the end of July garden.

Helenium 'Mardi Gras.' I've literally taken dozens of photos of this plant over the years but it keeps coming back strong and blooming its heart out. A real favorite for bees. 

As I've mentioned, lilies are my favorite bulb and I have a lot of them. June-August is the height of the season for them. Here's an unusual 'tiger lily' type - L. leitchtlinii. A spotted golden yellow.

Most will recognize this as the flowering stem for a Pineapple lily. It's Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy.' As with most pineapple lilies, the flowers open from the bottom up. Also popular with bees.

Though a bit shaded, this is my Cuphea purpurea Firecracker. It's sort of a cross between a cigar cuphea and a bat-faced type. And as you can see, it blooms prolifically. A hummingbird magnet.

Though shot at an odd angle, here's a photo of my Lily Golden Splendor. It's a trumpet type, meaning very long and large. Fragrant too, if not quite on the scale of the Oriental types.

Driveways bed. This bed started as an Australian natives bed and though the foundation plants are still these Aussies, I've added succulents and a few bromeliads to the front. 

Here's one of the succulents in that bed - Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata. As you can see, it's in bloom right now.

Teucrium Summer Sunshine. I love this tough little germander. Though it does produce little pink flowers I've added it to my garden for the sunny foliage.

Evolvulus. This morning glory relative has turned into one of my most reliable (and beautiful) perennials.

It's time to prune back my Impatiens Congolense. It's gotten a bit leggy, even as it keeps producing those charmingly wax red and yellow flowers.

Justicia betonicum. This less common plume flower has green-ribbed white bracts and little pink flowers. 

Mina lobata. I grow this every year, finding its gradation in color from red through orange, yellow and finally white to be very charming.

This is the bed to the right of our main walkway. That's an Eriogonum grande rubescens in the foreground, various Agastache beyond it and finally the Helenium at the top of the bed. The bed also holds several varieties of tiger lilies. 

Mimulus Jelly Bean Gold. As many of you know, I have a collection of Mimulus varieties in my garden. I think I may have all of the Jelly Bean colors. 

Two of the later blooming lilies are this Rio Negro (above) and the Bombastic (below). They're Oriental types, thus deliciously fragrant. 

This Lily Bombastic is, along with the double white Lodewijk, my two favorite lilies all year. 

This sounds like a bad joke: what do you get when you cross a Calibrachoa with a Petunia? In truth, someone did that and called it a 'Petchoa.' Here's a Petchoa Caramel Yellow. Incidentally, Petchoa? I mean, y'all couldn't come up with a catchier name than that?

Lily Black Beauty. Not sure about the color but they got the 'beauty' part of the name right. Although it's not a tiger lily, it does have spotted recurved petals. Lovely.

Tecoma x smithii. I thought this was a better behaved Tecoma but time has proven me wrong. It's climbed up into a street tree and is now 20' tall. Oops. 

Gomphrena decumbens. Although this year-round-blooming perennial has a common name - Airy Bachelor's Buttons - it really needs one that's more snazzy. Purple Reign? Okay, we'll keep working on the new common name ...

Tilden Botanical Garden (RPBG)

A friend and I spent a lovely day at Regional Parks Botanical Garden two weeks ago. The former Tilden Botanical Garden, it's located in the Berkeley Hills just up above the UCBG campus's Strawberry Canyon. Here are a collection of photos taken that day. I have positive identification for most, thanks to the Garden's scrupulous signage. There are a few questions, where signs couldn't be found or where access wasn't possible. So for those unfamiliar with RPBG, it is devoted to plants native to California. And it is laid out by regions of the state, with a handy map that lists those nine regions. As we know, California is an incredibly diverse state ecologically (and thus botanically), making this Garden a treasure trove of learning. Then again, one can wander the garden and enjoy its many treasures without knowing anything about plants at all.
So we start with one of the most common of California natives - Romneya coulteri, better known as Matilija poppy. It forms large drought tolerant clumps that produce very large 'fried egg' poppy flowers all summer.

Clarkia species. We couldn't find signage for this but do recognize it as a Clarkia species. Clarkias are a wide-ranging, late spring to early summer blooming annual. The flowers are mostly shades of pink, but that encompasses very pale to very bright pink. There are white flowering Clarkias as well.

This unusual plant (Iva mayesiana) is known as San Diego Poverty weed. A most curious common name, n'est-ce pas?

Yes, it's a tiger lily, but which one? In this case it's a Humboldt lily (Lilium humboldtii ssp. ocellatum). They are known for producing tall (6-10' high) stalks filled with recurved and spotted orange flowers. Quite a sight, even from a distance!

Speaking of plants with odd common names, how about Southern Mountain Misery (Chamaebotia australis)? As you can see, it has feathery fern-like foliage and a weeping habit.

Though we're not 100% certain, my friend and I think this Datura is D. wrightii (Sacred datura). Daturas are related to Brugmansias but are shorter, have upturned flowers and generally act as annuals.

This Manzanita tree was probably tagged but we didn't wander off the trail to check it out. So beautiful, especially here with the light shining through its branches. 

Adiantum jordanii. Commonly called California Maidenhair fern, it has petite leaves and slowly spreads out. It likes shade and semi-moist conditions. It is a relative of the common southern maidenhair fern that is so popular as a houseplant.

We're not sure of the species info for this good-sized lupine. It has pale yellow to white flowers and has over time made a vigorous clump.

Many people are familiar with the shrub known as Ninebark but did you know there's a low-growing native species? It's Physocarpus capitatus 'Tilden Park.' Lovely!

If this looks like a Monkey flower you'd be right. It's not however the drought tolerant 'sticky monkey' flower found throughout northern California. This is Mimulus cardinalis, which actually prefers semi-moist conditions. 

It had been a few years since I'd visited the Garden and I'd forgotten how big it is. It comprises 10 acres and parts of it are quite wooded, with a series of very pleasing streams. Several of those streams are crossed with wooden bridges, as was the case here. In the right foreground is a Bay laurel stump that's resprouting.

Here's another shot of one of the wooded sections in the garden. The shrubs that are growing on the banks of the stream are riparian types, dependent on regular moisture.

Here's another stream bed, with the right side hillside covered in ferns. 

As with any well-designed botanical garden, there are plenty of elevation changes in the Garden. Here we're on one of the higher trails, affording us a nice view looking back over a surprisingly wooded Garden.

This lovely cascading maidenhair fern wasn't ID'd (or perhaps we never found the sign). My friend ID'd it as an Adiantum but we're not sure of the species.

Another higher elevation view over the garden, this from the western reaches of the Garden.

We did find signage for this prolific Clarkia (C. imbricata). As you can see, this one has a bit of purple to its pink tones.

We know this is an Aquilegia (Columbine) but couldn't find the sign. I think it may be A. longissima, a yellow flowering native with especially large flowers and long spurs.

Likewise, we know this is a Vitis (grape) but don't know which species or variety. It does have a lovely silvery cast to the leaves.

Abies procera (Noble fir). We both marveled at the immense size of the cones on this fir tree. 

Most people will recognize this as a prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) but we didn't stray close enough to get its species or variety info. It's already forming fruits.

Back to Eden

Well, after last week's detour into the Ruth Bancroft Garden, I return to familiar ground this week with photos of my summer garden. It's nearly at its peak with a ton of things in bloom. It makes going out in the garden a continual adventure. There's always something new. This week I'll let the photos do the talking. Then next week, I'll share my recent trip to Tilden Botanical Garden, now Regional Parks Botanical Garden. A friend and I went this last Tuesday and I took lots of photos.

Lilium Mister Cas. One of my very favorite lilies! Love that honey-orange throat.

My Mina lobata is just beginning to bloom, showcasing its progression from deep red through orange to yellow to almost white.

Helenium Mardi Gras. Comes back reliably every year, blooms its hert out, attracts a ton of bees and is so pretty!

I love how my Moluccella laevis (Bells of Ireland) has a tendency to sway in all directions. Here it's reaching out over the sidewalk to grab more sun. 

Salvia guaranitica Black and Blue. One of my favorite salvias, with that unbeatable connection of bright green textured leaves and vivid bluish-purple flowers. 

Catananche caerulea (Cupid's Dart) and Agastached Red Fortune. A very pretty combo.

The first time I grew a Viscaria it died within 2 weeks. Not sure what happened bu last year this V. Blue Pearl went wild on the blooming and the one started this year looks to do the same.

Mr. Old Reliable. That's my Eriogonum grande var. rubescens, in full bloom now. As with the other CA buckwheats they are a premier pollinators plant.

Borage may be common and self-seed like crazy but it does have the prettiest star-shaped blue flowers. 

There's nothing quite like Lilium Black Dragon flowers. That vivid red; the raised black spots; the lime green centers. Just fabulous.

Lilium Montego Bay. This year's crop came out a bit more red and not an orangy pink as they were last year. Still very pretty.

Mimulus Valentine. Love the saturated red color on this sticky monkey flower! Mimulus are one of those plants that does best with benign neglect.

Right in the middle is my Lobelia fulgida, one of the red-leaved lobelias. Offsets well with everything else green around it. 

Here's the front yard bed I call the Sun King bed, a Beatles reference for all you Abbey Road fans.

Origanum Xera Cascade. This new ornamental oregano being grown by Annie's Annuals is similar to the popular Kent's Beauty only with even longer cascading bracts. 

Lilium Giraffe. My favorite of the 25 lilies in my garden, this variety new this year just seems to glow!

Though tiger lilies can take many forms, here's what the classic tiger lily looks like. This one is part of a Tiger lily mix.

Dwarf bedding asters may be common but they do add lovely bright colors to a bed.

Calibrachoa Rose Chai. This variety in the Mini-famous double series is delicate pink and has proven to be tougher than it looks.

Although this looks like a regular Hibiscus flower, it's part of a new line called HibisQs. This one is H. HibisQs Adonis Pearl. They have been self-selected to get larger flowers and ones that stay open much longer than the typical hibiscus.

Neoregelia Morcon. If you look closely at the center you'll see that this bromeliad is putting forth its first purple flowers. 

The toad lily in the front pot is Tricyrtis Zulu Flame. It has yet to flower but the speckled foliage holds my attention.

Begonia acetosa. This thick-leaved variety is a rich red on the bottom, as can be seen here. 

Begonia Gryphon. Another plant that has yet to bloom but I added it to my garden for the foliage.

The star of the show this year is my Curcuma Bicolor Wonder flowering for the first time! Just fabulous illuminated pink and white colors. 

And one last Begonia, this one Angel Glow. Love the colors and the ways in which the leaves twist and turn.